The Doctor Teaches Philosophy
by pillowdillo
Summary: The Doctor teaches philosophy. Alex the freshman philosophy student runs late to class, walking in to a lecture on the philosophies of Space and Time.
1. Chapter 1

Dakota Downey

11/17/2013

Chapter 1:

His alarm sounded, the blare of the song waking Alex up from the deep sleep he would soon miss dearly. He opened his eyes, staring blankly at the ceiling before they adjusted to the influx of light filtering in between the slats covering his only window. This one window, making his dorm room seem more like an actual living space rather than a bleak closet space someone shoved a person into. He had requested a single, but hadn't expected the spartan furnishings the university had provided for his room. They had managed to fit in a simple bed frame, a desk and a mini-fridge with a small microwave on top.

With a sigh he sat up, giving a good stretch before halfheartedly getting out of bed, wincing at the feel of the cold hardwood floor beneath his feet. Walking over to his desk he grabbed one of the small boxes of k-cups, fiddling with the shrink wrap. With a satisfying clunk he closed the top of the machine over the single serving instant coffee. Pressing the start button he bent down, reaching into the small fridge to grab the staple of college students everywhere: a hot pocket. All of a sudden the back of his neck began to burn, the smell of fresh coffee suddenly brought to his attention. He dropped the hot pocket, the frozen chunk of enriched flour and red paste breaking into upon impact with the cold floor.

He straightened up, knocking over some papers that were on top of the microwave in the process. They landed in the slowly expanding puddle of hot coffee on the table, the paper drank up the water like a man dying of thirst. Pressing the off button on the coffee maker he picked up the now limp pages, they were some intro material outlining rules and regulations of the dorms. But there was also a campus map, upon which the ink had ran down the page forming illegible blotches. Spilling coffee, losing some stupid rules and regulations, these were things he could deal with, but now his perfectly planned route between classes was gone.

With a sigh and the enthusiasm of an elderly dog he tossed the papers out and turned took out his sleek new Macbook Pro. As it turned on, fans whirring and the familiar soundbyte of the OS chimed he rummaged under his bed, making sure the jungle of cables for his printer were plugged in where they needed to be. A few clicks later he had a new list of classes printed out, unfortunately without optimized directions. Glancing at his alarm clock he panicked, he had forgotten to adjust for the change in time zone, he was no longer living in Colorado. Instead of having an hour and fifteen minutes to get ready and get to class, he only had fifteen, twelve minutes and 43 seconds of which he had already wasted.

Shoving his textbooks and notebooks into his bag he raced out of his room without zipping up his bag. Running out into the common area of the dorm his books came tumbling out, crashing onto the ground like a ton of bricks. Alex stopped in his tracks, taking one strap of his backpack off his shoulder, dropping his bag onto the ground.

Turning around he bent down, picking up his books and shoveling them back into his bags, being ignored by his fellow freshman and laughed at by a group of upperclassmen playing cards at a nearby table.

As he got to his class, he slowed his pace. Pausing a second before opening the door, hoping that somehow he had gotten his class time wrong. That somehow no one would notice as he slipped through to doors, slinked to his seat and join the rest of his class in mindlessly taking notes. He took a step in, the doors shutting behind him with a reverberating thud. Before him the lecture hall spread out, three sections with rows upon rows descending terraced to a platform with a lectern and a large green chalkboard. Slowly, the man standing in front of the chalk board turned around, settling a calculated gaze on Alex.

"Ah, and here comes the last member of our excellent class" the teachers voice was low and gravelly, with thick Scottish accent. "Well then, don't stand there like a frightened deer, pick a seat. Talk to me after class."

Alex stood for second longer before fully registering the teacher's words. "Ye-yes sir." He stammered, before quickly taking the nearest available seat, slouching down in an attempt to be less visible.

The professor turned around, taking in his writing on the chalkboard before clearing his throat, continuing with his lecture. "Before we were interrupted by our late friend here we were talking about the history of philosophical views on space and time around the world."

He turned around, continuing to lecture with a slight grin on his aged face. "And now we continue to the Incas. They believed in a single concept for space and time, which if anyone of you remembers was the secondary character in the Disney animated movie Emperor's New Groove…" he continued on, going on tangents about various things mostly unrelated to the topic of the days lecture.

Nodding off, Alex jerked back awake several times throughout the lecture, put to sleep by the dullness of the class. Managing to keep his eyes open, he perked up when the days reading was assigned, managing to write it down before getting up with the rest of his class, stretching as he rose. The teacher looked up from his papers, giving Alex a brief look before looking back down, putting the rest of his things into his bag.

Alex walked down to the front, wishing he had had more time so he did not need to bother with this. As he got close to the front he addressed his professor, "Sorry sir, rough morning today. I will not be late again."

His professor gave a short laugh, before pausing briefly. "It's quite all right. If I expected every freshman to not make mistakes I'd be sorely disappointed. The irony of the matter is you walked in during our lecture on the philosophy about time. I want to see you pass this class. I've got some extra reading for you, come by my office hours tomorrow and we can talk about the class."

Alex stammered out, "Yes sir. Excuse me sir, what's your name sir?"

The professor calmly said "You can call me The Doctor."


	2. Chapter 2

"Doctor who, sir?"

"Just the Doctor my dear boy. Now I expect you've got another class soon, I do not wish to keep you late for yet another class on your first day. Get to class, I'll see you later this week during my office hours I hope." The Doctor kept his focus on Alex for a second, before returning to his briefcase to finish putting away his things.

Alex left, '_What an odd professor' _he thought. But it quickly slipped out of his mind. He was not late to his second class, or his third class or any of the rest of his classes. Tuesday came and went, and on Wednesday he had his philosophy class again. As he arrived, minutes before class stared he thought to himself '_At least I'm on time this week, nothing for the professor to call me out for this week.' _Coming in with others in the class he sat down in the same seat as he had last class.

'_I must be forgetting something,' _Alex thought as he left class. As he walked out the doors the thought hit him, '_Office Hours. The Doctor wanted me to visit him during his office hours!' _He crouched down, rifling through his bag to find the syllabus for the class. '_Today at 1pm. In forty five minutes. No class then, I guess I'll go.'_ Alex put the syllabus away,

Alex knocked on the door, '_Maybe he isn't here. I can just tell him I showed up but he was busy or something.' _With a creak the heavy wooden door opened inward, revealing a rather small office, with yet another door in back.

"Come in, come in!" The Doctor said before turning back, "Oh, Alex. Glad you could make it. Would you like a cup of tea, or coffee perhaps?"

"Yes sir, black coffee would be nice."

The Doctor returned to his desk, sitting down and then pouring Alex a cup of Coffee. As the Doctor set the coffee pot back onto the heating element Alex asked "Sir, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Indeed there is. While this class is a very basic college level study of the philosophy of space and time, very few get to experience the reality of it. I have an offer to make you, one that I don't make to very many. A chance to experience space, time in a way you've never experienced it. A journey of a lifetime, through time and space. You may experience a week, or a month or more but come back to this planet without having missed a single thing. There will be no monetary cost, but you must accept that there may be danger."

"Wh-what kind of danger sir?"

"The deadly kind. Planets exploding, time paradoxes and the uncountable number of angry aliens."

" You've got to be joking. Aliens, time paradoxes?"

"This is no joke." He motioned behind him, at the other door in the room. "That door leads to the TARDIS, my ship that can travel throughout time and space. What do you say, fancy a bit of adventure?"

"Will it get me a good grade sir?"

"A good grade?" The Doctor scoffed, "I offer you all of space and time and you stand here thinking about grades?" With a sigh he continued, "You will get an A in this class. As for the rest I think its best you forget them. For the time being your only concern should be what you will soon be experiencing. You may find that after a time paradox or two your time management skills may be quite formidable. Come along now, it's time we should off." The doctor finished with a triumphant smile, before turning around and throwing open the door.

Alex stepped forward, peering inside. '_Such a strange room', _Alex's thoughts raced as he took in the strange sight before him, a big center console with all sorts of buttons and buzzers, with a big lit up pillar in the middle. He turned to the Doctor and asked, "What is this room?"

"It's the TARDIS; Time and Relative Dimension in Space. It's a big blue box, and its bigger on the inside."

Alex took a second to take it in, "bigger on the inside? Just how big?"

"As big as she wants it and as big as we need it. Take care not to wander too much, it would be a terrible start to your adventure if you got lost."

"I just won't get lost, even if I have to find my way back with a string tied to the door."

"Very well then!" the Doctor exclaimed, "it is time to fly." He turned around, in a complete circle before briskly striding off to the control panel. 'Fizz, bang, clang, rattle', the entire room shook before a wheezing groaning klaxon noise sounded throughout the entirety of the room, the pillar in the central column lit up with blue light, a shape inside moving up in time with the noise. The Doctor had a maniacal glint to his eye, to Alex the Doctor had always seemed to be young and old together, but now his face was lit up like a child on Christmas day.

The Doctor turned around, looking at Alex. "Open the door now, mind your step."

Alex had stepped no more than a few steps in, turning around he found himself face to face with the blue wooden paneling of the door. He reached out, and the door swung open to reveal empty space. One step, and then another brought him to the precipice, as he peered out he took a look at the strange time travelling ship. It appeared to be a somewhat big blue box, but what caught his eye was the giant blue sphere they were over.

As he peered out his thoughts raced, '_Earth, is that really earth?'_

He turned around to ask this question to The Doctor, who had apparently read his mind. Yes Alex, this is earth. However not as you know it. We've gone back one thousand years. And this is just the beginning, tell me where and when you would like to visit, and we can stop by for a visit. So then, where too?"

"Well sir, I've always wanted to see the Dinosaurs."


End file.
